


A Watery Matchmaker

by goeskaboom



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Sentient Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-05 20:39:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1831528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goeskaboom/pseuds/goeskaboom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Haru's Birthday Bash on tumblr. The water looks after those humans it views as its own, up to and including trying to encourage a match between them</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Watery Matchmaker

Most of the time, humans feared the water. It was a powerfully unpredictable, ever-changing, impersonal force, one that could be deceptively calm one moment and then dangerous violent the next. Because of that, many humans avoided the water or only interacted with it when it was absolutely necessary. Sometimes they would enjoy the water, but only in very controlled, sanitized environments, making no real effort to connect with it. They would fight it, try to bend it to their will. And that was the way it had been since the very beginning.

But sometimes there would be a human that would understand the water in a way that was so foreign to their kind. Instead of fighting a losing battle to try to control it, mold it to their own ideals, they accepted it. They did not fight against it, instead working with the water. The water always appreciated those humans, but they were few and far between. When they did come into existence, however, the water chose to look after them, as best it could. Olympic swimmers were some of those people, for example, but they were certainly not the only ones.

One such person, with a natural connection to the most plentiful fluid on the planet, was one teenaged boy named Nanase Haruka. Born in Japan, from childhood he was irresistibly drawn towards pools, lakes, rivers, oceans…. even smaller containers like bath-tubs and fish tanks. He embraced the water like a long-lost friend, and the water accepted him as one of its own.

Time went by and the water watched as Haruka grew up, maturing into an adult. He was always the same, constantly drawn to his favorite element, often to the exclusion of everything else. Even other humans. Normally the water didn’t really care _what_ the humans did, but it felt it had a duty to those it considered its own, and it had been around since the beginning of time- billions of years of experience had told I that humans needed to be around other humans in order to be completely happy. Haruka just apparently hadn’t quite realized that yet.

Every day, while they swam, the water evaluated the people around Haruka to see if they would be a good match for him. The smallest human was too hyperactive, and besides, he seemed to have an infatuation with the glasses-wearing one. The glasses-wearing one was too uptight, the water decided, and wasn’t the strongest swimmer. Haruka wouldn’t be happy with him. The girl was a possibility, but unless she got in the water, it would be impossible to tell for sure. The tallest human was probably the best option out of them, but the water could sense Haruka’s emotions, and Haruka’s affection for his friend was purely platonic. It was closer to the affection one feels for a sibling than for a lover. That could potentially change in the future, but something like that was completely beyond the water’s control. It could only hope to point Haruka in the right direction, and that complicated things. What was it supposed to do if there weren’t any suitable humans around?

All of that changed, however, with the return of a human from Haruka’s past. Matsuoka Rin. The water hadn’t noticed how perfect they were for each other until they got into the pool to race each other, but one they did… it was able to pick up on the two’s emotions. Haruka was, as always, mostly diffident, but with concern for his friend (former friend?) underlying it. That was good, that could be worked with. Rin was angry and antagonistic, but underneath all of that was an old, long-buried desire to impress Haru. If the water had a face, it would have smirked. It could most definitely work with that. Now it just had to bide its time until the opportunity presented itself, to get them together. Now if only it could figure out how.

Ultimately, though, the perfect time came when both Samezuka and Iwatobi went to the same place for training camp. The wind owed the water a favor from some time ago, and after some negotiations, the other element agreed to help. Both wind and water waited until Haruka and Rin were within several thousand feet of each other, then the wind suddenly surged forward with a targeted gust and caught Rin’s towel., wrenching it from his grasp and propelling towards the ocean. The water had been expecting that, and surged itself forward to capture the cloth. Now, hopefully, the humans would react in the ways the water had predicted it would.

They did. “Damn it,” Rin swore, charging towards the sea to retrieve his towel. But Haru sprang into action first, not having seen where the towel had come from. Once he saw the cloth hit the water, he dashed forward, launching himself into the ocean without any concern for himself. The ocean itself had kept the position of the towel relatively static- after all, the goal was for Haru to get the towel and give it back to Rin. It barely took any time at all for Haru to reach it, and he grabbed the towel before wading back to shore. Rin was standing there, albeit minus his usual scowl. He just looked confused. Haru got out of the ocean and took the soaked towel over to the other boy.

“It’s wet,” he stated the obvious, holding it out. Rin looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Get the towel.”

Haru shrugged.

“I wasn’t planning to see you until the competition,” Rin stated, looking vaguely perturbed. “That was the plan- then I would finally beat you! What are you even doing here?”

“Training camp,” Haru said. “Your sister’s idea.”

“Oh,” Rin,” replied.

“Yeah.”

The two looked at each other for a few moments, not saying anything. But eventually, Rin accepted the proffered towel.

“Thanks,” he said, after hesitating again for another moment. Haru nodded.

“You’re welcome.”

Both boys looked at each other, impassively, for another minute or two, saying nothing. Finally, Haru spoke.

“Do you want to swim?”

This time, Rin only hesistated for a few seconds.

“Sure.”

The water was quite proud of itself.

/END


End file.
